Emergency Operations

Massive Fireball Erupts at Chinese Petrochemical Plant

Video posted on Chinese social media Tuesday shows workers desperate to escape from a massive fire roiling skyward at a petrochemical plant in Zhuhai.

Workers scramble to get away from burning petrochemical plant in China.

Screencapture via Weibo

Also posted to state-run Weibo was video of a tremendous fireball originating from the Zhuhai Changlian Petrochemical plant rising above the distillation towers.

Media accounts say the fire lasted about an hour with no deaths or injuries reported. Hundreds of firefighters and 40 fire vehicles were dispatched to the scene, state broadcaster CCTV said.

“The fire has already been put out, and on-site environmental monitoring states have shown no signs of abnormalities,” a statement released by the Zhuhai Economic and Technological Development Zone says.

The fire flashed in the reforming and pre-hydrogenation area of the hydrogenation unit, reports Radio Free Asia.

A fire traced to a cracked furnace tube erupted at the same plant in 2015, the Beijing News reports. A recent inspection revealed major flaws in the factory’s fire safety procedures, according to information posted to the Ministry of Emergency Management in July 2019.

The South China Morning Post reports that those issues included a hosepipe that spewed black liquid instead of firefighting foam, and inadequate toxic gas detectors.